Dumb Rival Never Looked So Cute
by xMoymoy
Summary: Axel and Roxas are rivals who both have their eye on the same person: Demyx.  AU, oneshot. AkuRoku and mentions of Zemyx.


**AN**: Omg, I loooved writing this thing :) Axel is so much fun! But I hope nobody pays attention to story titles because mine is just awful.

**Summary**: Axel and Roxas are rivals who both have their eye on the same person: Demyx. AU, oneshot. AkuRoku.

**Warnings**: Swearing, some Roxas bashing, and failed humour. Mentions of Zemyx. Axel being a dork.

* * *

From the corner of his eye, Axel saw Demyx's form fumble clumsily with his locker combination. The redhead's jade eyes narrowed as a thin grin overtook his facial features mischievously. When he watched he blond finally open his locker, the taller boy turned back to his own messy compartment and plugged one of his headphones into his ear, listening to the blares of mindless pop music revolving primarily about sex, drugs, and partying.

Demyx was seriously sexy. Axel wouldn't mind jumping into his pants any night. Or day. Whenever the hot musician was available, Axel wouldn't mind being there to rock his world—and bed.

When the mohawked blond finished with his locker and shut its squeaky door, carelessly oblivious to the lurking stalker-like redhead eyeing his ass, the teen left. That was when Axel noticed that little Roxy-baby was on the other side of Demyx, now in Axel's view. The tiny little eleventh-grade thing was presumably eyeing Demyx just the same as Axel had been, and, judging from how the blond's eyes were trailing after the leaving musician, it was painfully obvious that the boy was.

"Brat," Axel called, effectively snapping Roxas' attention onto him. The younger boy blinked stupidly with his cheeks darkening from embarrassment of having been, once again, caught by Axel while he was drooling over Dem. The redhead scoffed, smirk on his face, knowing how the little kid had been blushing over Demyx.

But soon, a scowl reached the small blond's little baby-like face (even though his skin was still pink—the brat couldn't look intimidating to save his own pathetic life.) "What do you want?" the blue-eyed runt grumbled to Axel. It only made Axel's smirk widen, which annoyed the blond even more, despite his (poor) attempts at hiding it.

"Nothing," he drawling out lazily. "You should hurry up and just confess to him, you know."

Roxas turned to his tidy locker, blushing like mad. Seriously, Axel had no idea _why_ the kid blushed like he did or how it was even humanly possible to go so red so often. Birth defect? Seeing as how this was _Roxas_...that prospect wouldn't be much of a surprise.

"Get the rejection over with, you know?" the redhead teased.

Roxas abruptly shut his locker, not in rage, but his scrunched face made him look like a kid about to throw a tantrum. Not that Roxas would though—he was the type to abide by the rules, and if mommy and poppy were to receive a call from the school, saying their little angel figure committed some no-nos, bad shit would go down for the kid.

"Well," Roxas muttered, "why don't _you_ go confess _your _feelings to Demyx? Instead of pestering me and being hypocritical about everything."

"Because I'm a selfless and thoughtful person, of course." His grin grew and Short Stuff rolled his blue eyes. "You see, if I were to confess to Demyx now, then he'd automatically accept, of course, since, you know, how could anybody resist me, right?"

Axel ignored the sharp "_Ha!_" his ever so witty rival huffed under his breath.

"So if I were to steal Demyx from the rest of the world now, it would take away the opportunity for hopeful yet hopeless imbeciles, _such as yourself_," he emphasized, "from the chance at ever fulfilling your dream. So then they'd live the rest of their lives without a sense of closure, constantly regretting never having stepping up and telling him how they've always longed for his amazing body and tall, girthy di—"

"Axel!" Roxas clasped his pale hands over his ears. Oops—Axel had entirely forgotten how much of a virgin this brat was.

"So like I said. I'm doing the rest of you a favour by not letting Demyx know of my thoughts about him." Of course, what Axel wasn't telling Roxas was how he _had_in fact already confessed to the sexy mohawked musician. And been rejected. Not that Roxas really needed to know.

_"Hey, hot stuff," Axel had purred sexily toward Demyx._

_A blond brow rose until his slow-processing mind figured the strange redhead had spoken to him. "Oh—hi!" he chirped._

_"Fuck me if I'm wrong, but haven't we met before?"_

_"Yeah!" Demyx blinked enthusiastically. "You're...__**Alex**__, right?"_

_"Uh." The redhead gaped, probably looking less cool than he would have liked. "It's Axel, actually." He swiftly composed himself with his ever genius catch line. "Got it memorized?"_

_"Yup." The blond smiled a very sexy smile. "I remember you from textiles last year. When you almost stitched your fingers together."_

_That wasn't where the conversation was supposed to lead to. And the slightly older teen didn't want to be reminded of that incident. It was time to whip out his amazing sex come-ons. "Hey, if I flip a coin, what are the chances of getting head?"_

_"Hmm." The blond tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Well, it'd be fifty-fifty, I guess. Since there's only two sides."_

_"Er..." Axel hadn't anticipated the mohawk slash mullet guy to completely miss the sexual innuendo. But he tried again. "Since we've been told to reduce waste these days, what do you say we use these condoms in my pocket before they expire?"_

_"Oh, you want to know a fun thing you can do with condoms?" Demyx grinned madly and continued. "Fill them up with all-purpose flour and tie it up! It makes a great squishy toy!"_

_"I would absolutely love to swap bodily fluids with you," Axel blurted bluntly._

_The redhead then grinned, believing he'd gotten his point across when the blond's eyes enlarged._

_"You're a __**vampire**__?!"_

Yeah, Roxas didn't need to know about any of that.

"Whatever, Axel," Roxas grumbled, pouting ever so slightly. "You're so narcissistic and egotistical. No one would ever want to date you."

"Like you're one to talk."

Roxas blinked rapidly, spluttering over his own words. His lips curved downwards as he snarled then exclaimed, "Yes they would!"

Axel only scoffed, grinning in total amusement. And apparently that tiny little front got the kid even more worked up.

"I'll prove it to you!"

Oh, this was going to be good.

"I'll..." Roxas pondered for a moment. "I'll...confess to Demyx!"

This had Axel's thin brows raised. "Seriously?"

"Yup." This time, it was Roxas who was smirking. A little evilly—maybe devilishly—but the little shit sure got cocky suddenly. "I'll tell him tomorrow. Before school starts."

"Why don't you just talk to him right now?"

"Because!" the shorter boy snapped, blushing furiously. "I'm not...prepared yet." His gaze bashfully averted to the ground.

Axel laughed much to the embarrassed one's perpetual irritation. "_Prepared_?" he repeated dubiously. "How the fuck does someone get prepared for this?"

* * *

"Are you fucking serious."

The next morning, it took everything in the redhead to refrain from bursting into fits of laughter in the short blond's face.

"Sh-shut up," Roxas muttered darkly under his breath, clutching the box of chocolates harder in his hand. The young teen ran a hand through his blond locks that failed to slick back under what appeared to be hair gel that didn't really do the trick. With the natural spikes Roxas had, Axel didn't think _any _hair product would be able to keep them flat. Not that Axel's hair was any better, but that wasn't relevant.

"It's just..." Axel looked over Roxas' funny, overly done appearance another time. "Well...What's with the _tie_?" he asked, curiously clutching the black tie hanging off the boy's neck. He fumbled with it through his grabby fingers.

"It's more romantic so don't touch it with your dirty hands!" he snapped, slapping away Axel's paw.

The taller one snorted. "Romantic. Right." He sighed loudly simply to infuriate the short-tempered brat even more. "Don't even bother trying to make yourself look like a handsome guy. If Dem accepts, _he'd _be the man of the relationship. Not you."

"Fuck off." Roxas smoothed the tie down for the umpteenth time. The damn boy couldn't take his hands off his appearance the entire five-minute duration they'd hung out so far. "Just help me find him so I can do this and prove to you how much of a catch I am. And also steal your object of affection away for good."

"_Catch_?" Axel laughed. "Dude. Like at you. And look at Demy—do you even _know _what he ranks on the scale of sexiness?"

Roxas was glaring sourly at the tall ginger.

"Must be a solid nine point something. And do you know how _I _rank on that scale?"

The short blond was brushing away a microscopic piece of lint on his spotless trousers. "Axel, I bet you wouldn't even be on any such 'scale of sexiness.' Not that there's even such a thing," he grumbled.

"You're right. I skyrocket off the charts." He flicked the frustrated younger boy on the forehead.

"I do too."

"You wish."

Roxas flushed, brows knitting angrily, as he walked off in some direction to find Demyx. Axel followed shortly behind, but damn, he couldn't stop thinking of how unappealing the kid was. While Dem was undoubtedly a bundle of radiant, glowing sunshine, Axel couldn't think Roxas was anything but a mutated bucket of sludge and sewage waste.

Maybe the kid would be a _little _bit of an eye-catcher if he wasn't so dumb and angelic.

Well, perhaps not necessarily _dumb _per se. It wasn't Axel's place to comment on the blond's intelligence, seeing as how Roxas had way better grades than he could ever hope to achieve. Though, around Demyx, Axel was never certain where all his smarts went; Roxas looked like he had the IQ equivalent to a noodle around the more stunning blond, mohawked guy.

And alright... Axel knew the brat wasn't all _that_angelic. They had been friends once upon a time, before Axel first declared his desire to fuck the musician. Apparently Roxas wasn't too big a fan of that idea and had been sporting his own desires to be with the guy who sported a mullet-mohawk. But before all that stuff, Axel knew Roxas enjoyed getting into shit with him. And the innocent-looking thing was one hell of an amazing liar—if it weren't for that miraculous yet somewhat immoral ability, the two of them would have been possibly expelled by now.

So Roxas wasn't all that disgustingly angelic, the redhead supposed. But he was a virgin. That in itself was something worth noting and poking at.

As Axel considered it, there wouldn't _appear _to be much wrong with Roxas to an outsider. But just because the redhead couldn't think of anything about Roxas' personality to poke fun of, he didn't find the kid appealing.

Roxas was Roxas and Axel didn't like Roxas. He didn't need to clarify any more than that.

"You're going the wrong way if you want to find Dem," the redhead informed, causing the younger male to halt in his steps.

"How would you know where he is?"

"Silly." He placed a cocky hand on his hip and talked as though he was the smart shit he truly wasn't. "Demyx usually hangs outside at the back of the school with some other short fellow with long-ass bangs."

Roxas turned and stomped past Axel, muttering, "Course you'd know something like that. Creepy stalker."

"Your welcome."

They continued to walk towards the rear of the building, but when they reached the doors that would grant them access to the outdoors, Roxas stopped abruptly.

"Oh, come on." Axel sighed over dramatically. "Don't tell me you're getting cold feet now. He should be right outside. Just go out there and claim the man. Or attempt it at least."

"Shut up." Roxas took a few deep breaths and Axel noticed how the younger boy's hands were shaking slightly. "I just...need a second to calm my nerves."

"Yeah, just try not to wet yourself there, kid," he said, causing the brat to turn and scowl scornfully at him.

"Fuck you."

"No thanks."

Roxas ran his empty hand through his perpetually messy hair exasperatedly. "I can do this," he said. Axel couldn't tell whether it was directed to him or if Roxas was saying it to himself, but either way it was pretty entertaining to watch the kid behave so nervously.

"Then go out there and prove it," Axel whispered close to his ear, having to lean down quite a bit to do so.

"I will." Roxas boldly pushed to door open and trudged out determinedly. Axel could almost hear heroic music playing after Roxas in the background. Or maybe that was just Axel watching too many epic movies lately.

Regardless, Axel again followed but bumped into the short blond when Roxas, once again, ceased his walking.

Axel growled, annoyed, and grumbled, "What is it now?"

The frozen boy didn't respond. He was stiffer than a fucking plank and Axel's brow furrowed, looking over the boy's short figure to see for himself what caused his rival paralysis.

He too froze, but recovered much faster than his weak ex-friend.

"Huh," he said. "How about that."

Against a tree, Demyx was there, but he was pinning a shorter kid up and was quite passionately making out with him. It was slow yet fierce and pretty much destroyed their plans for Roxas to confess.

Axel had to smirk at the sight—he hadn't thought the cheerful musician to be so bold and dominating. Mentally, Axel cheered for the blond to get laid, before tugging on Roxas' nape, who was still rather still.

"C'mon, Rox. I don't think either of us will be getting into his pants anytime soon. Lucky Zexion."

The short blond didn't say anything while Axel led him back inside the building, head hung low.

"Damn, I didn't even know Dem had himself someone, even with all my stalking—I mean friendship-induced occasional glimpses." The redhead released one beast of a morning yawn, before nudging a very silent Roxas in the ribcage with his narrow elbow. "So now what do you want to do? We have friggin' forty five minutes till class starts and hallways are basically empty. Wanna start a fire?"

Still nothing—the little runt.

"Yo. Rox. All my friends are still sleeping so you're in charge of entertaining me." He took Roxas by the front of his shirt and gently backed him up against some lockers. "And it would really help if you were to speak to me right now. Instead of acting like a zombie."

Roxas was screaming silence at the older teen, which was pretty annoying, and staring down at his shoes. Just when Axel had his lips parted to nag the boy some more, he blinked dumbly when a sob suddenly shook the small body and Roxas was covering his crying face with both hands, box of chocolates dropping onto the ground.

"R-Rox?" Completely baffled by the blond's mood change, he watched with wide green eyes as his rival sobbed audibly against his own shaky paws until he slid feebly down the lockers, sitting on his rear. He continued to cry miserably, whimpering when he wasn't sobbing and sobbing when he wasn't whimpering.

Axel felt more than a little awkward; he was never one to comfort people in really emotional states, and he'd _never_ seen fucking _Roxas _of all people ever crying in front of him. Not just crying, but angsting his guts out... or something like that. Bottom line: this was something completely unpredicted and Axel didn't know jackshit as to what he should do.

"Um..." Nervously, (God, it wasn't like Axel to ever feel nervous), he took a seat on the ground a good foot away from the self-destructing guy. Slowly (and awkwardly as _fuck_) he began to scoot closer, inch by inch, until he was right next to Roxas. The redhead eyed the trembling form and brought his arm up to strangely hover over the blond's shoulders but way too fucking scared to try touching him. He'd seen glass shatter and thought maybe Roxas might do the same.

When Roxas choked on one of his sobs and curled more into himself, Axel swallowed thickly and let his arm wrap around the thin shoulders. He got even more daring when Roxas didn't protest and tried pulling the blond closer to him.

Incredibly, Roxas actually leaned against him of his own free will and accepted Axel's somewhat uncertain method of providing support. The redhead felt his face feel warmer at his ex-friend's closeness. '_Holy fuck, am I __**blushing**_?!'

He swallowed his spit once again and tried distracting himself from his pitifully reddening cheeks. Unfortunately the only way he knew how to do that right now was by talking.

"So Roxas..." God, he felt fucking stupid. "Um. It's kinda nice having the hallway to ourselves, huh?" Idiot.

Roxas sniffled and surprisingly spoke. "...I thought... D-Demyx was..." He hiccupped. "I didn't know h-he already... had somebody..."

Axel rubbed the kid's shoulder as he gushed out his feelings.

"I r-really... _liked _him..." he squeaked, trying to better control his composure—not that it was doing much, but kudos to Roxas for trying, right?

Apparently the kid was tired of sobbing, so he let his legs stretch out in front of him and arms fall limp to his sides as he sniffled silently to himself, tears still staining his pale cheeks.

Axel was still rubbing his shoulder, looking at the blond and trying to better understand what the kid was feeling. He had always thought the two of them wanted the same thing: a good fuck with Demyx. That theory seemed a bit flawed now though; Axel needed no time to get over the awesome musician, yet Roxas was responding like he was going to die tomorrow.

Clearly, Roxas may have had stronger feelings towards Demyx than Axel had predicted. Seeing his former friend in this state, the same hard-ass who wouldn't take shit from people, was difficult for Axel to sit around and do nothing about it.

"C'mon, Rox, you can do better anyway. This will be good for you," he said optimistically, thumping the boy on his back.

The blond blandly shook his head. "It's all over," he blubbered hopelessly.

"What—_over_? How the hell is it over when you've never had anything with Dem to begin with?" the redhead blurted.

A feeble sniffle. "I'm done for."

"...Okay." Axel looked at him, brows furrowed with a small smile. "Now you're just being silly. Lighten up a bit!" He smiled brightly for emphasis, not that the stubborn boy was even looking at him.

"No," he grumbled. He sobbed dryly again, which made Axel contemplate how he should work with his brat before Roxas could break down into a puddle of depression again.

When he spotted the box of chocolates that had been for Demyx on the floor, Axel grinned and grabbed it. He remembered when he'd used to come over to Roxas' place all the time and they'd often pig out on these things. Roxas absolutely loved that particular brand—he'd be able to tell whichever flavour the chocolate was based simply on their shape.

Axel remembered how every time Roxas was able to open a box, he'd invite Axel. Just like Axel had always invited Roxas whenever he'd go out and get sea salt ice cream.

"Here," he said, taking one of the delightful chocolate pieces in his fingers. He nudged it against Roxas' quivering lips until the blond slowly parted them and he was able to slip it in.

Yet almost immediately Axel had to catch the chocolate after Roxas had so gracefully spat it back out.

"What the f—why'd you spit it out?!"

"It's dark chocolate," Roxas muttered like a five year old. "I don't want it."

Axel heaved an exasperated sigh. He'd forgotten how Axel had usually been he one to consume the dark pieces. Roxas always had a sweet tooth.

"Alright then..." Axel took another one with a lighter colour and held it in front of Roxas' pouting face. "Open up."

This time the blond looked at the chocolate first, before sporting a sour look and curtly turning his head away. "Regular milk. Too plain."

Starting to get a little annoyed, his brow twitched a little at the honour student's sudden immaturity. He plopped the milk chocolate into his own mouth before picking up a chunk of white chocolate.

Roxas was watching Axel, tears stains on his cheeks but no longer crying, and when he saw the redhead's next selection, he glowered—the nerve—before saying, "No white. I want caramel."

"Fucking blonds..." the redhead muttered darkly under his breath. He seriously considered throwing him out a window. But he realised they were only on the first floor and it wouldn't do a whole lot of damage. So instead he took the correct flavour and fed it to the teen.

Axel watched the boy chew slowly and swallow. Roxas still looked miserable but at least he no longer looked suicidal. "Yummy," Roxas kinda-sorta whimpered weirdly.

"Good." Axel prepared to feed the blue-eyed thing another one, but froze when Roxas slumped against his side and sighed.

He didn't say anything; Axel assumed the boy was simply tired from his earlier crying. The redhead rested against the locker, also kind of exhausted (seriously, who knew comforting could be so straining). He lifted his hand and ran it through Roxas' fluffy hair.

He was just barely able to see Roxas' face the way they were sitting. The boy was really broken, which sort of concerned the older boy. He wasn't sure how long this depressed condition of his would last, but he hoped it would end soon. He knew Roxas looked so much better when he was smiling, no matter how much of a dorky smile he had.

Feeling the soft locks weave easily through his rough hands, Axel thought about Demyx—how much the redhead wanted to snap his pretty neck for doing this to his former best friend. And how the musician was too much of a ditz to even realize what he was doing. Maybe it wasn't necessarily the mohawk guy's fault for being so dumb, but still. Roxas was hurting and Axel had to direct his anger towards _someone_.

And really, what a waste. Roxas had all these emotions and feelings for nothing. It was all thrown away before Roxas was able to make them known and came right back at the blond to cripple him. Maybe Demyx was already in love with someone else, but seeing all the love Roxas had been storing for the musician go to shit was annoying for Axel to watch.

In a way, he wondered what it would be like to have someone love _him _as much as Roxas loved Demyx. And how it would be like if he could also in turn love that person back just as fiercely. Axel bet it would be wonderful.

Roxas soundlessly sighed and closed his tired, puffy eyes and Axel held him tighter.

For a moment the redhead thought that maybe if Demyx wasn't interested in Roxas... and if Roxas had some room left in his heart... maybe Axel wouldn't mind filling the void...

* * *

"Leave me alone," Roxas grumbled, walking as fast as his short legs were capable of taking him, schoolbooks clutched tightly against his chest.

"C'mon, Rox." Axel was persistant. "Let's just get some ice cream real quick." Every single day Axel had taken it upon himself to follow Roxas around. Before school, sometimes lunchtime, and sometimes afterschool. Only sometimes for lunch and afterschool because Roxas' jealous friends would chase him away for being as sexy as he was. Not because Roxas asked them to get Axel the hell away from him. Nah.

"I have to go home and start my essay," the blond muttered, peeved at how easily the redhead could keep up with his strides. "Go away, Axel."

"Nooope." He abruptly grabbed the short boy's arm and they both stopped walking, Roxas cursing as he almost dropped all his school stuff on the ground. "We don't hang out as much as we should."

Roxas huffed something derogatory about face-tattooed freaks with constant bad hair days. "You're _always _coming near me now. For, like, two months."

"Because you're suffering from a Dem-less heart and need sea salt ice cream to fill it up." Axel cheerfully patted down Roxas' fluffy hair, which immediately bounced back up. "C'mon, cutie, let's get fat together."

Slapping Axel's touchy hand away from his hair, Roxas continued to be a grouch. "You keep making fun of me. Just go away, Axel. I want to go home."

Clutching onto the kid's forearm, much to Roxas' deteriorating sanity, Axel asked, "What do you mean make fun of you? I haven't said anything mean to you since before your little break dow—"

"_Don't_ talk about that," Roxas snapped, flushing a deep crimson. He was still extremely embarrassed about his sobbing fit two months ago. Axel would always tell him he didn't mind it, but to Roxas it was a forbidden discussion topic. "And you _do_make fun of me." He looked away, embarrassed again. "Calling me things like cutie or saying my hair is lovely. It's annoying so please stop it."

"What?" Yeah, he'd been noticing some things about Roxas lately. Like how he wasn't that much of a total dork as he'd thought, and his shortness was actually kind of cute and the perfect size for scooping him up in his arms without so much as a warning. And yes, Axel had tried it. It didn't exactly go well with the frazzled younger boy, but Axel had thoroughly enjoyed it regardless.

"Yeah. It isn't funny, Axel."

"It's not supposed to be funny," the redhead stated. "I'm serious when I say those things. You're good-looking, Roxas." And the blond was. Really, having the backside view of Roxas climbing a set of stairs was out of this world. And when Roxas would take his top off in the school changerooms... _damn_.

"Shut up. You've been saying that crap ever since we caught Demyx kissing Zexion. I know I overreacted, which was unnecessary, but you don't need to rub it in my face and lie shit all the time." Roxas yanked his arm back and tried stomping off but Axel was quickly at his side again.

"Is that really what you think?" Axel asked dubiously.

"What else would I think?" Roxas was scowling, but on his face it looked more like an adorable pout. "Before... _that incident_, all you'd do is say how dumb or weird or short I am. Now it's like... almost like you're trying to _flirt_with me or something." His blue eyes narrowed in annoyance. "And that would be stupid—I'm not your type so quit pretending I am."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Axel held his hands up in defence. "Maybe you weren't back _then_, but now I can confidently say that _damn_, you're lookin' mightily _fine_."

"Quit making fun of me," the blond grumbled, still reluctant to believe the redheaded annoyance. "I'm not tall, I have no muscle, I'm not brainless, I have a 'lousy haircut,' and I don't have a 'pinchable bubble butt.' Those are all characteristics of what you want and I meet none."

"No pinchable bubble butt?" Axel parroted in disbelief, eying the blond's quite pinchable little bottom.

"_Eep!_" Roxas jumped literally a foot and grabbed his rear, gawking at the laughing redhead in disbelief. "What the hell?!"

"You squeaked!" the tall guy guffawed, doubling over in almost hysterical laughter.

"Don't you _dare _pinch my ass again you psychotic maniac!" Roxas bent over to retrieve his notebooks he'd dropped and immediately tried storming away from the very giddy Axel.

"Aww, don't be like that, Roxie." He once again caught up to Roxas, wiping his teary eyes. "Let's just go and get some sea salt ice cream together. My treat, lovely."

"Quit calling me that shit!"

"But I mean very word of it!" Axel chased the blond boy of his growing desires until they reached the kid's home.

Unfortunately at that point, Roxas had quite harshly slammed the door right against Axel's perfect nose (ouch) and the redhead had no choice but to leave the property and do something else before anyone could call the police on the suspicious individual trying to look through the house's windows and maybe break right in.

But Axel was still looking forward to the next day to continue his bonding (harassing) with the cute blond boy.

* * *

"It's so sunny outside," Roxas mumbled, trying to fan himself with his hand. Not that it did much.

"The higher the temperate the better." Axel grinned lazily, eyes closed, just laying there in the grass with his hands under his head. Roxas was sitting next to him with his back leaning against a boulder.

"Of course the damn pyro would think so." The blond began airing the front of his shirt. "Seriously, I'm so damn hot right now," he complained moodily.

"You always are," Axel smoothly remarked, smiling broader.

"Screw you, Ax." Roxas gave up any attempt to cool himself off and slumped uncomfortably against the big grey rock behind him.

Still grinning, the redhead rolled onto his side to face the agitated boy, elbow digging into the earth as he rested his head on his palm. With Roxas' attention to him, he gave the kid an attractive wink.

Roxas in response flipped the older teen off and turned his head away, grinning nonetheless.

About four months had passed since _the incident_ (Roxas was _still_ embarrassed about his little episode of bawling his eyes out in front of Axel.) Since then, Roxas found it was easier to just let Axel flirt with him and chill with him occassionally. Although that _occasionally_ turned into _constantly—_sometimes the two of them forgot why they'd stopped being best friends at all when it was always so easy to be around one another.

And Axel was everyday becoming more and more attracted to the blond's appearance, falling _deep _for Roxas as a person. He liked his personality, liked his opinions, liked his flaws, liked his company. When he wasn't with Roxas, he'd think about him and only him. He might have been a little obsessed, but it was Roxas and Roxas was worth being a tad obsessed over.

"Once school's finished, we should get some ice cream," Axel suggested, lazily sitting up fully. And almost threw himself against the boulder, closer to Roxas than really necessary, which had to sweating blond chuckling and shifting away by a few inches.

"Hell fucking yeah." Roxas sighed, drained. "It's way too hot to not go and eat sea salt ice cream," he mumbled.

"Mhm." Axel would wrap an arm around his friend right now but he knew the shorter guy would only push it off and lecture him about not wanting to share body heat in this weather. And then Axel would wiggle his eyebrows suggestively and propose the idea of sharing body heat together _tonight_, preferably in bed, when the sun was gone instead. Then Roxas would say no, than Axel would chide yes, and they'd waste the rest of their lunch break like that.

"Look, it's Demyx," Roxas said out of nowhere.

Axel grew a little bit tense at the mention of that name and turned his head to where Roxas was looking, and there the musician was, walking slowly alongside that quiet Zexion kid.

The redhead was very uneasy anytime the tall blond was anywhere near him and Roxas. Or when Roxas and Demyx were close each other when Axel wasn't there—that was probably scariest. The point was that Axel had no idea how Roxas still felt about the creative musician. They were usually never near Demyx long enough for Axel to see if Roxas would look at him longingly or lovingly or even lustfully because Axel would aready be grabbing the shortie and dragging him somewhere Demyx-less.

Axel didn't want Roxas to still hold feelings for another person. Even if Roxas would never look at Axel in a romantic light, the redhead still didn't want Roxas looking at Demyx or anyone else who would not return his feelings. Roxas deserved someone who would love him back just as equally and Axel didn't want to see the little ray of (grumpy) sunshine to get hurt again.

"Hey, Roxas, how 'bout we go inside and harass Riku and Sora for some food?" Axel quickly suggested, already halfway to his feet.

Roxas made a whining sound and stayed in place. "It's too much effort to get up and walk. And there's no AC inside," he mumbled lazily. "Let's just stay out here. We have like half an hour 'til class starts again."

"But, Roxas—food!" Axel said enthusiastically. "Maybe Sora will have cookies again. You know, the really chocolaty ones that feel like an orgasm in your mouth!"

Roxas groaned, clutching onto his stomach in distaste. "They gave me a stomachache last time."

"Well this time you won't steal the whole bag and eat twenty at once." Axel wanted to laugh at the memories of Roxas diving into the cookie bag, but Demyx was still in eye sight and was a considered a threat. "C'mon, you lump!" Axel said, trying to be firmer.

But Roxas, the little shit that he was, simply spread his legs in front of him and stretched his arms behind his head.

Seeing the kid so unintentionally vulnerable and maybe kidnappable might have been a thrill for the redhead if it weren't for the fact that Roxas was being a stubborn thing.

"Don't wanna," Roxas said in a very simple and annoying way.

For a moment, Roxas was smugly resting there as steam was literally rising off of the agitated pyro.

But when it was clear Roxas had no intention of moving anytime soon, and Axel was too tired to scoop the boy up and run off with him like a child molesting clown stealing a little boy from the playground, the redhead plopped back down on his ass with an exaggerated sigh.

"You're a brat," he said.

"That's nice."

So they sat there with the view of Demyx and Zexion slooowly strolling along like some damn old married couple and all Axel wanted was for them to hurry up and haul their asses out of there so Roxas could only look at Axel again.

When Demyx and Zexion paused in their tracks, Axel was tempted to yell out _keep moving you sexy but potentially Roxas-stealing ape! _Demyx appeared to be talking to Zexion, then out of nowhere landed a smooth kiss on the short guy's lips. Zexion hurriedly pushed him off, covering his mouth, and finally decided to speedwalk away with flushed cheeks, Demyx cheerfully prancing after him.

"They look happy together," Roxas noted, sighing to himself. Axel felt his chest tighten under all his anxiety from not knowing if his love-interest still held feelings for this other guy. "Everybody's hooking up with each other... Demyx and Zexion, Sora and Riku, Marluxia and Larxene, Hayner and Olette... and I've always been single and haven't even asked anyone out," Roxas vented, face growing glum.

"Well..." Axel was glad Roxas hadn't said anything about wanting to get with the blond musician—he figured that was a good sign. "You _almost _asked someone out before," Axel noted. "You had chocolate and a funny-looking tie and everything."

Axel intentionally ignored the glare Roxas shot him as the blond said, "And I was rejected before I could even say a word."

"Well..." Axel tried thinking of some stuff to cheer his depressed friend up. "Just because you haven't asked anyone out doesn't mean no one isn't interested in you."

"I haven't even been asked out before." The blond chuckled humourlessly. "How sad is that. I'm seventeen and no one ever wanted to date me before... except for Seifer but he was such a jerk about it."

Axel knew what Roxas said wasn't true because a guy who wanted to date Roxas was right there sitting next to him. He hadn't even realized he'd never asked Roxas to go out with him the past few months. The redhead was always flirting instead, which made him feel sort of dumb when he thought about it.

Perhaps now was the time to make his move. Before anyone else would be able to.

"No, Roxas," Axel said, turning to face the lovely boy and swiftly taking his smaller hand in his own.

Roxas blinked confusedly at him but made no move to protest—so far so good.

"The truth is," Axel said, staring into those endless blue eyes longingly, "There _are _peope who would like you all for themselves." The high school setting had already disappeared and Axel could hear ocean waves crashing peacefully in the distance, the moonlight illuminating them, little fat bubbly hearts floating all around them. Axel was suddenly wearing a fancy tuxedo like the ones penguins would always be seen wearing while Roxas was inexplicably wearing a tiara and a flowing, light blue dress and that complimented his eyes and was poofy enough for the squirt to drown in.

"Pfft." Roxas scoffed, which threatened to ruin the insanely romantic atmosphere Axel carved for them. "I'll be single forever. Whatever, man." He shrugged.

"No, Roxas." Axel raised their joined hands and brushed his lips gently against the blond's pale knuckles, never breaking eye contact with the now gawking teen. "You won't be alone because...I am right for you, Roxas." He kissed backside of the bug-eyed boy's hand and murmured dramatically, "I like you. And I would like to take your hand in dating."

There was a pause—which felt a little sparkly and magical for Axel—and the whole time, Roxas' eyes were wider than life. The blond's face had astonishment slapped right across it and he seemed completely at a loss for words.

Then he laughed—quite loudly, at that, and almost hysterically.

"_What?!_" he bellowed, still laughing and successfully popping Axel's bubble of fantasy.

The redhead slowly let go of Roxas' hand, a look of confusion overtaking his initial confidence.

Roxas frantically continued with his little moment of insanity. "Y-You're crazy! You're insane, you damn pyro, you've been playing with too much fire and it burned away all your brain!" He giggled in hysteria, pointing at the baffled accused, blue eyes still wide with madness. "You've been smoking those weird acid things like we learned in drug awareness! It's gone to your head and lost it—your head went ka-blomp and died with acid and hippies and—Oh my God, you're like a hippie! Hippie Axel!" he screeched, slowly losing his mind.

Axel could only stare in a dumbfounded state as the blond wobbly staggered to his feet. The redhead certainly didn't mean for this to happen—he only wanted Roxas to accept and date and maybe marry him and bare his future children. Breaking the blond was a total accident.

"I'm gonna go inside and...steal cookies from Sora and Riku," Roxas stated, brushing his ass off with his hands. "You stay—you need the fresh air to refresh your brain. I'm gone."

And Roxas _was _gone—both physically and mentally as he stalked back towards the school doors.

A took Axel a moment to realize he was rejected. Maybe he would have been a little sad and a little discouraged.

But he knew before Roxas had left, he saw the blond blush prominently while Axel asked to date him. Maybe now Roxas was a little shocked and messed up but...the blush and mental breakdown made Axel feel quite accomplished with himself.

'_I've got this_,' Axel told himself, cracking his knuckles (ouch, did he break some?) simply for the dramatic effect. '_I've totally got this_.'

* * *

The two of them spent the weekend without a single call or text message to the other. Axel wasn't sure what Roxas was doing, but he was certainly busy making preparations. He had to make everything perfect, which ended up making him spend his entire paycheck, but it would be so damn worth it.

He was going to blow Roxas' mind and win over his little heart with this. And it was going to be epic.

On Monday, Axel skipped his morning classes for last minute setup. When he arrived at school during lunch break, he figured Roxas would be chillin' with Hater and Omelet and Fence off to the side of the school building.

So that was where Axel marched, big-ass flower bouquet and basket of chocolates in his arms.

When he turned a corner and the group came into view, Hater and Omelet immediately gawked at him and the all the heart-shaped balloons tied to his wrist, floating in the air.

When Fence and Roxas noticed their two friends' dumbfounded stares, they each turned and also gaped at the full suit the redhead was wearing and listened to the sappy romance music emitting from the iPod hiding in Axel's pocket.

Grinning broadly, Axel took in the sight of the beautiful blond and soon they were the only ones existent in the world.

"Roxas!" the redhead declared merrily, "I am in love with you!"

"Wha—" The blond boy was even more baffled than he was when Axel first asked him out. Then his cheeks began to glow crimson—what a gorgeous sight—as Roxas reminded himself of their surroundings and his friends surrounding them.

Then, also desperately, the short guy yanked on Axel's forearm, almost causing him to drop the massive arrangement of flowers, and dragged him away into the forest near the school.

When Roxas let go, he was panting and flushed and disoriented—holy shit, Axel would _love _to see Roxas like that in bed and naked—while Axel was still wearing his smile, standing tall.

"What the hell?!" Roxas was facing the older guy, gauging all the stuff the redhead had on and was holding just to woo him. "You're so... Why're you—I-I can't even..."

Axel gently placed the chocolate basket and flowers on the ground and stepped closer to Roxas. "I love you, Roxas. I want to date you and live with you and marry you and have fifty children with you," he stated, backing the flabbergasted boy against a tree. "But we're still in high school and to be honest, I spent the last of what little money I had left on this suit and everything. So for now I can settle for just dating you."

He placed hands on either side of Roxas' blond head, balloons floating above him.

"So, Roxas," he said smoothly, "Go out with me?"

Whole face burning under his blush, Roxas chuckled a little. It wasn't out of madness this time though—maybe embarrassment or nervousness. Or maybe he was just being bashful. Aww.

"You're a dork," the blond muttered, smiling a little. It made Axel's heart swim and leap and frolic and do all sorts of things vital organs weren't really supposed to do.

Roxas sort of rocked back and forth on the heels of his feet. Axel wasn't exactly sure what it was supposed to mean, but after a moment of that, Roxas suddenly slumped against Axel.

Then Axel felt the blond go on his tippy toes and place a soft, innocent kiss on his jaw.

When Axel happily wrapped his arms around the small boy, Roxas mumbled against his chest, "I want to."

"I want to, too." The redhead kissed one of the blond spikes on his head then Roxas pulled back, looked up at Axel, and the older boy kissed him firmly, deeply, perfectly on the lips.

Axel heard footsteps approach and an unfamiliar voice say, "See, it's Taylor Swift music! I told you someone was playing Tayl—oh, whoa."

The two teenagers pulled away from each other and looked at the interruption—Demyx. With Zexion boredly behind.

The musician frantically began to apologize "I'm sorry—I didn't know you guys were having a moment here and I was just drawn because I heard Taylor Swift music playing and I wanted to hear more but I'll leave now so you and him can continue sucking face—I-I mean kissing or whatever—"

And Axel was frozen during the musician's rambling because it was absolutely the worst possible timing for fucking _Demyx _of all people to show up and maybe remind Roxas that he might have liked Dem better than Axel. Yeah, Axel's iPod was playing Taylor Swift music on repeat but if he'd known it was going to lure Demyx then Axel might have played Katy Perry or Jesse McCartney...or even that Justin Beiber kid if it came down to that.

He didn't have a whole lot of time to panic at Demyx's presence, however, when a hand crept onto his cheek and turned his attention back to his adorable new boyfriend. Roxas pulled the redhead back down and kissed him fully again, apparently not giving a shit about the presence of Demyx or Zexion.

And Axel happily kissed him back, concluding for himself that Roxas really was over Demyx and had moved onto him instead.

Axel blearily heard footsteps fade away from them and now that they were alone, the redhead took the moment to slip his tongue into Roxas' mouth, and deepen the kiss like that, hand running through Roxas' fluffy hair.

He was sure Roxas had never been kissed like this before—the uncertainty with what to do with his tongue was adorable and Axel had never been so happy that Roxas was a little virgin. The thought of anyone else having a piece of this boy before him made Axel want to pointlessly punch a wall and maybe painfully break a few knuckles in the process to vent his savage jealousy.

But Roxas was with him, only him, in his arms, mouth to mouth, and all was fucking amazing. Better than any fantasy.

When Roxas pulled away for a chance to breath, he was all flushed and yummy-looking. Axel smiled earnestly at the kid, brushing some soft blond hair behind his ear.

Roxas appeared nervous, almost shy even, as he hesitantly asked, "...You're for real, right?"

Axel raised both brows at the inquiry but never ceased to stroke the blond's beautiful skin. "I'm dead serious," he responded without hesitation. After a tentative pause, he redhead asked, "...Are you?"

"Yes!" Roxas replied, surprisingly quick. "I mean..." He looked away, cheeks going darker. "Not that I'm desperate or anything..."

Axel snorted, which Roxas immediately scowled at.

"I'm not!"

"Sure, Roxas. Sure," the older teen teased.

The blond tried glaring his new boyfriend (which was a miserable failure) until he slowly sighed and mumbled, "It's just that...I mean...I'm not your type."

"You are now."

"And you like Demyx."

"Not really," Axel said. "Maybe I thought he was hot a few months ago, but the moment I saw he wasn't available, I lost interest. Nice body, but if I were to actually date him, I'd lose my sanity within a couple of days." Seeing Roxas still uncertain, Axel wound his arms around the shorter frame and held him loose enough to still be able to look him in the eye. "Honestly, Rox. I love you. We were best friends before for a long time so we know our personalities definitely click. You're cute, too."

"I have no sexual experience," Roxas stated.

The redhead smirked at the blond's point. "I'll train you."

Roxas choked on his tongue and Axel laughed at him.

After being lightly smacked and called a jackass, Axel once again kissed Roxas' forehead, slowly becoming addicted to the feel of the boy's skin. "I have to ask though, Roxas," the tall teen said. "...You are over Dem though, right?"

"Yeah." With a small smile, the blond held Axel's larger hand in his own mini one. "I don't want him anymore."

"You sure?"

Roxas chuckled at him, saying, "Quit being so insecure!" He huffed. "It makes you look simple-minded," the kid added as an afterthought.

The redhead flicked his nose, making the kid squeak. "You're a little shit."

"Geez." Pouting up at him, Roxas carefully rubbed his nose with the back of his hand. "I'm not interested in Demyx anymore. Honestly." His arms dropped to his sides as he looked off to the side, growing embarrassed. "If you really do want to date me...then I'd be really happy. We've done a lot of stupid things before and I kind of missed being your best friend."

Axel weaved his fingers through the blond hair in agreement.

Roxas stepped closer to the taller teen and rested his head against his chest, winding his arms around Axel's narrow waist. "You were always there for me before. And even when we both wanted Demyx and stopped being friends, you were still around me a lot and helped me out sometimes."

"You mean when all your of feelings imploded on you when you saw Demyx being hot with Zexion."

Roxas' grimace did not deter Axel.

The redhead shrugged, reached into his pocket, and turned off the Taylor Swift that was inevitably going to be stuck in his head for hours. Smiling, the redhead dropped the electronic back into his pocket and told the blond, "I'll always be there for you."

He expected some sort of jab about his cheesiness, but instead Roxas flushed beautifully and glanced behind the redhead, over to the neglected flowers and chocolate basket. "I'm not going to bring that stuff into my next class."

Axel kind of chuckled, scratching the back of his head, balloons lifted high above him. "Sorry, didn't think much about that. Just wanted to win you over with materialism and our country's capitalist ways."

Roxas snickered and said, "Touching. But it wouldn't have made a difference if you asked me with nothing at all." He smirked. "Well, that's one way to blow your money."

"But you like them."

"Well—yeah." Roxas flushed once again. "Yeah."

Axel smiled and took Roxas' hand. "Then it's worth it."

Roxas returned a smile of his own, though the blond's was much more radiant and breathtaking. "Let's skip the rest of class. We can go to my house and fatten ourselves up with all that chocolate you bought then we can go out on a date."

"Sounds good."

They joined hands and frolicked for half an hour all the way to Roxas' house. Not really—they had to lug Axel's gifts with them, but they totally would have frolicked together if they had nothing to carry.

Then they ate a lot of sweets that they probably shouldn't have consumed because there went their thighs and waist lines. Not really—they were both always thin no matter what their bodies had eaten, but they _did _have a lot of chocolate that afternoon.

After that, they left and went paint balling. Axel claimed he had won, which wasn't exactly true because Roxas sort of kicked his ass.

That was their first date out of countless. Axel ended up being Roxas' first and only sexual partner, as well as life partner. Despite their perpetual bickering, teasing, and the occasional bigger fight, the two always worked their problems out and their relationship prevailed for years and years—when they moved in together, got married, adopted a loudmouth son together (Axel's initial plans of knocking Roxas up didn't work).

Really.

* * *

**AN**: This thing just did not want to end. Sorry if ending seems abrupt but yeah...

Please review me :)


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